A lot of what I read in the General discussion forums seems to concern marketing of knives, and other objects of interest, and expectations and realizations of those expectations.
Marketing is an extremely important portion of making knives, facilitating the manufacture of a knife ,through to the sale of the knife to the end user.
Some marketing is brash and bold, a la' Cold Steel and Lynn Thompson's, shall we say, unique approach.
Some marketing is very "user friendly" shall we say, maybe like Buck or Spyderco. What could make more sense, or be less sheeple threatening than a slogan like "All of God's creatures have knives"?
The problem with marketing, is that it ties a lot to identity of the end user, and can be confusing in its' own right.
When Lynn started making the tanto, he contracted with Buck to make the blades. That was a good move, because it would yield a quality product. Then he made a bad move, and started running ads, mentioning features of the tanto like "armor piercing", which made the knives look less like good defensive weapons, and more like thuggish weapons for offensive use, which Buck took offense to, and stopped making the tanto blades for CS.
FWIW, Bob Lum designed the first Americanized tanto, which he adapted from an armor piercing aikuchi from the medieval Japan period. He has never gotten very much credit for this, but it is the truth. Lynn adapted the design to manufacturing and ran with it, and the rest is history
Until you buy and use a knife for a long period of time, you never really know if it works for your purposes.
Then Hollywood gets mixed up into it, and everything becomes REALLY confusing.
The Rambo Series of knives by Gil Hibben by United Cutlery is probably the most sold, not regularly used model of knife in the history of production knives. Seriously, even though they look cool, how many people use the sawback spine on a knife? Carrying a commando wire saw, or even a hacksaw blade in your kit bag seems to make so much more sense. This being said, I will bet that the #1 knife sold by TOPS is the Wilderness Tracker.
It makes a lot of people feel like Rambo, to hold one, and imagine adventures and exotic locations, and if you are serving up a Big Mac, working the daily grind, with mouths at home to feed, you can use all the escapist thoughts your mind can hold.
I guess the thing that bothers me, and my point is that what you are using the knife for and what you expect from it should be rooted in as much reality as you can stand.
All the new steels are really cool, and it is always a good thing to want something better, but the 420 mod that Buck uses is not a horrible steel, and has an excellent heat treat, and works for most of the uses that someone can come up with. When I was in the Navy, the bosun's mates used Buck 110's with reshaping of the tips to chisel points, because that is what they had access to, and used. And they worked fine. It does not mean that there were not better knives out there, it means that this is what most of them used, could afford, and that made sense
I have carried a Benchmade 710 as my primary blade for over 5 years. It has been used and abused, even by most standards here on the BladeForums, and has not let me down. I purchased it because Bill McHenry and Jason Williams are friends, and for that matter, so is Les DeAsis, and I wanted to support them. I have found it to be the perfect EDC knife for me, because it fits the bill, not because of any hype surrounding it. Although there can be plenty of hype.
I also EDC a Victorinox Climber, a modified Benchmade model B, a Bill Ruple 2 blade trapper, a Chuck Gedraitis single blade slip joint in damascus, and a Benchmade auto Benchmite. That is right, I carry 6 knives, and I use about 3 of them every day. My wife thinks it is a bit excessive, and it may be, but works for my uses
My point in this ramble is that if you have an idea of what you want, try to handle it at the store or gun show, and ask yourself what you need it to do. Research the steels and materials, and see if that knife works for you. It really does not matter if an engineer designed the knife, or a cowboy, or a SEAL, it matters mostly that it works for you.
Part of the process that is most fun is figuring out what you really want and THEN buying it. Regret is what happens when you buy what you THINK you need, getting caught up in all the hype, and then have something that does not work the way that you wanted it to.
Best Regards,
STeven Garsson
maker or multiple worker shop you were refering ?
